Insulator assembly



A ril 4, 1950 E. s. SCHMID 2,502,756

INSULATOR ASSEMBLY Filed D80. 9, 1947 ATTORNEY FIG.6.

INVENTORZ EDSON s. SCHMID,

Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED S PATEN T F F I C E :msumroa ASSEMBLY "Eason ;s..;sehmia. East Williston, N. Y. Application December 9, 194:7,"Serial' No; 790,617 2 claims. (01. 191-42) This inventionmelates to supports 'ior'thlrd'or current-carrying rails of electric railways and more particularly to "the construction of. the dielectric insulatingnelement thereof with its associated elements that are in contact therewith.

"The currently common arrangementjisito have a solid one-piece porcelain insulator proyide support for the third rail in an elevated "position from railroad cross-ties, but-during the war it become all but impossible to obtain suchinsulators. "They are rather heavy, weighing as much as 16 pounds'and they'arefired in a kiln to obtain the glazed porcelain effectheretoiore considered essential .for not only dielectric proper-- ties, but in order to assure that such insulators meet'the usual and generally imposed tests'for compression, puncture, fracture absorbence, accumulation of grease, -dirt 0r brine, and of course electrical resistance.

So an object oithis "invention isto devise an insulator that is as good, if not "better than, present-day insulators-that can be made' ln quan tities quickly of materials-and with facilities now amply available. .Another object is to devise such an insulator that does notiha've :tobe fired-in a kiln 'orindeed does not need to'beglazed. Another object is to devise such an insulator that has significantly less weight than present-day insulators. A further object'isto 'devise such an insulator of separable parts as a hollow column or base piece and 'unglazed non-ceramic cap pieces .that can be'used :upon the column piece, either "singly :or in superposed or multi-decl: sar- "rangements. Other objects includezthetconstruction'and arrangement involvediin (l) associating thehollow column with base of theibracket'that supports "the wooden guard that ."is'posttioned above the third rail, (2') Jin.associating'withthe cap piece of the insulator "with the stirrup or "chair on which the third :rail restagan'd "(3) in details of construction thatcontributeftoisuch as 'sociations.

The base of the usualsinsulator dcesnot have propose to employ a composite material whose constituents can be admixed-'and then pressuremolded into the desired contoured shape where- 2 atterfit'nee'ds tO 'be subjected only to drying and never to glazing or firing or other temperatures requiring a kiln.

My improved "insulator has many advantages. among them are the facts that my insulator weighs only one-third as much as present-day insulators; that my composite insulator can be made under present-day conditions promptly and in'the large quantity currently neededby electric railroads (which today face'a three-year delay in deliveryof critieallyneeded insulators) that myinsuiator assembly'canbeimade much cheaper than present-day assemblies; and that my insulator has a resistance to flash over that is about four times greater than enough; and that the independent column or tubular base of my insulator can be made in various heights to accommodate various weights (and heights) of running rails, whereas my cap piece is a universal element that can be used with any height column so that a railroad can get the benefit of a much lesser inventory of different height complete insulators which is apresent-day prob lem andiso is the distribution of such different height insulators for the right height insulator rarely seems to .be on hand at "the right-place atthe right moment. Another advantage along this latter lineis'that vthecappieces are usable in multiple tiers on 'axsin'gle column, :when required soitiisinotinecessary to' send back to the warehouse forspecial insulators'for such emplacements.

Other advantages of my improved insulator ariseifrom .theiact thatsince theinsulator cap PiBCeliS press'ure-moldedand. not fired or burned in a kiln, its dimensions can be controlled. more accurately "so 'that'its top can be made quite not and :a slot can be'made therein of such dimensions that .the chair or stirrup that holds :the third rail in place can be completely counter 'sunk'ttherein with'the result that the rail receives support from a full diameter of the .fiattop of the "cap piece.

The best embodiment of the invention now known to me has been chosen for illustrati'on in the accompanying drawings, although .it is to be understood that it has been chosen .ior il1ustra tive :and :not limiting purposes because obviously there can be changes in ldetail so long as they fall within the ambit of the appended claimsbearingiin mind however the principle "of patent law relating to reversal of parts.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure v1 is a vertical sectional view taken along :a railroad tieishowing one rail and its associated third or broken away of the cap piece of the insulators of this invention. Fig. 5 is an isometric view of the column piece of the insulator of this invention. Fig. 6 is an isometric view of the lower section or portion of the bracket. Fig. 7 is a' vertical sectional View with parts not in section, of the modified insulator of this invention.

In the drawings and especially in Figure there is a railroad rail secured in place on a railroad tie l2 by means of spikes l3 and-a fishplate l4. Adjacent the rail H and on the tie I2 is a bracket l5 that supports the insulator assembly [6 of this invention, which is made up of a separable hollow column or base piece I! and cap piece I8. Resting in the cap piece I8 is a stirrup or saddle piece IS in which nests the third or power-conducting rail 2|]. The column section I! of the insulator assembly I6 is supported from the base section 2! of the bracket l5, which base section is provided with upstanding curved flanges 22 and 23 in which the column piec I! tends to center itself.

The bracket has at its upper section a latorally-extending arm 25 that supports the usual wooden guard or shield piece that protects objects from falling onto the third rail 20.

"My dual insulator is made up of the hollow preferably cylindrical column piece I! such as isshown in Figure 5. This column piece is cast or extruded of a hardened and compressed mix- .ture of asbestos and cement, an example of which is currently marketed by Johns-Manville Corporation under the name of Transite. The cap piece of the insulator of this invention is preferably a pressure-molded mixture of a phenoli'c binder with asbestos filler pressed with about 250 tons pressure and thereafter dried to a temperature between 240 F. and 300 F., but not fired. An example of such a material is currently marketed by the Garfield Manufacturing Company of Garfield, New Jersey. The column piece of the insulator can be a section of what is now currently sold as a conduit for cables cut into lengths about 5 inches long with a thickness of approximately of an inch thick. The cap piece'is approximately 1 inches thick with an'overall diameter at its greatest dimension. of 8 inches and with a'diameter with its top face of approximately 6 inches. The column'weighs about 2% lbs. while the cap weighs about 3 lbs. z

The cap piece [8 of the insulator is provided with a fiat top face 28 and a tapered skirt side portion 29 sometimes called a petticoat. This terminates in a flanged edge 30 for causing any liquids received by the insulator cap to drip therefromatrsome distance from the column portion of the insulator. The underneath face 3! of the insulator ca is provided with a fiat face 3| that terminates in an annular recess into which fits the upper end of the column section of the insulator as shown particularly in Figure 2. The cap piece N3 of the insulator is provided with a central bore or aperture 33 and also within one 4 metrically extending depressed slot or groove 34 in the upper face 28 of the cap 18.

Into the latter slot 34 there is fitted the stirrup or saddle member I 9, preferably formed as shown in Fig. 3 with a main body portion having upturned ears or lugs 35 and 36 at each end thereof and a depending U-shaped appendage or boss 31 welded in place. The boss 3'! is adapted to fit into the bore 33 of the cap piece l8 and to be self-centering therein as shown in Fig. 2 and the stirrup or saddle I9 fits into the recess 34 so that the upper face or side of the stirrup I9 is flush with the upper face 28 of the insulator cap It.

In the multi-deck or multi-tier modification shown in Fig. 7, the separable insulator assembly of this invention lends itself to the use of multiple insulator caps as shown in that figure wherein between the normal insulator cap [8 and the column piece I! there can be interposed a second and preferably larger cap piece 38 whose lower faceis'constructed-in principle-like the lower face of the cap piece l8so that the cap piece 38 will fit onto the upper-edge of the column piece I'L'n The secondary cap piece 38 is provided with an upstanding annular flange on its upper face adapted to fit into the annular recess 32 of the cap piece 18.

In operation-the column piece I1 is centered in the flanges 22 and 23 of the base plate 2| of the-bracket IS. The cap piece I 8 is then centered insu-pported position on the column I! with the annual recess 32 of the cap piece I8 fitting over the upper end of the column piece I! as shown in Fig. 2. The stirrup I9 is then fitted into the recess 34 in the top or upper face 28 of thecap piece l8 and centered in position by means of its depending U-shaped appendage 31 fitted into the bore 33 of. the cap piece lt. Thewings-or lugs 35 and 36 of the stirrup l9 center the third rail 20 in anchored position on the insulator so that it will'not'slide therefrom. At the same time; the fact that the upper face of the stirrup I9 is flush with the upper face 28 of the-cap piece l8 provides extended frictional contact between the base of the third rail andv the top face: of the cap which further tends to hold the third" rail in place on the cap.

- The advantages of this arrangement'have been stated in the forepart of this specification. I claim: a 1. An insulator which comprises a separate unfired insulating cap element having a flat railsupporting top with a depressed recess diametrically across the top and-a bottom circularly grooved 'on its underside, a base section having curvedflanges, and a non-ceramic columnar hollow cylindrical section engaging the circular groove in the top and the base section being held in place solely by weight of the rail supported by the insulator-and composed of a molded materialtthat is insulating while yet cuttableto length on the job whereby all parts are standard except the cylindrical section and that is readily cutito length to suitvariable length installations thereof.

An insulator according to claim 1, with the addition of a thirdrail holding stirrup located in the"diametrical recess and having an appendage centered in the bore of the capelement, the upper? face of" the "stirrup being flush with ,the top of the cap element. EDSON S. SCHMID.--

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 928,709 Steinberger July 20, 1909 1,010,011 Austin Nov. 28, 1911 1,532,836 Schmid et a1 Apr. 7, 1925 Number Number 6 Name Date Schmid et a1 Oct. 15, 1929 Banks July 21, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Aug. 9, 1905 France Nov. 19, 1929 

